Boleat: A Breton and Jersey Family

Many Jersey families have their origins in Brittany. It is now possible to trace those origins using the online records of the genealogical associations in the Cotes d'Armor (http: / /archives. cotesdarmor.fr) and Finistere (http: / /www.cgf.asso.fr). The Cotes d'Armor records are freely available; putting a name into the search engine will immediately yield details of births, marriages and deaths. The Finistere records are

available only to those who join the Association (for a modest 36 a year), but are more detailed including in some cases the names of those present at births and deaths, god parents and even the occupations of those getting married. Using these records, the Boleat family has been able to trace its origins back to the mid-16th century. A detailed study of the family together with a database of names is available on www.boleat.com/ family.

Today, there are about 200 people who have been born with the surname Boleat. Over half of them live in Brittany, about 30% in the rest of France, 15% in Jersey and three in the UK and Australia. Almost certainly, they are all related and have their origins in a small area in the north of Brittany, south of Lannion and east of Morlaix.

482 people born with the name Boleat have been traced; 88 were born before 1700, 100 in the 1700s, 103 in the 1800s and 191 since 1900.

Early history

The first records on Boleats show three separate branches, although they may well be connected.

In Garlan, a small village a few kilometres to the north east of Morlaix, between 1599 and 1610 Philip Boleat and Marie Kerdodo had five children, one of whom, Jeanne, seems to have made her way to St Martin du Mont, 760km away in Rhone-Alpes, where she married Jacques Roddelet.

The descendants of Lucas, one of Jeanne's brothers, spread to the area around Morlaix, particularly Plouarin-les-Morlaix, with a number of births, marriages and deaths being recorded in two of Morlaix's churches, St Matthew and St Melaine. Some of Lucas's descendants settled in Guerlesquin, 20km south east of Morlaix, probably at the end of the 18th Century. The last Boleat of the Garlan branch died in Vendee in 1997.

Brélévenez, a suburb of Lannion, is best known for its magnificent church. The first record in Brélévenez is of the birth of Jean Boleat in1616 to Pierre Boleat and Catherine Hamon. There are subsequently records of 65 births of this branch all in or close to Brélévenez. The branch of the family seems to have died out in the 1850s.

(1656), a grandson of Nicolas and Jeanne. With the exception of the Brélévenez branch and a few others between, between 1700 and 1850 most Boleats were born in the neighbouring villages of Plufur and Lanvellec, just a few kilometres to the east of Plouaret, and most of those who were not were born in nearby villages.

The Jersey branch

The Jersey branch of the family are direct descendants of Nicolas (1560), Maurice (1580), Yvon (1612), Yvon (1656), Jean (1695), Maudez (1725), Jean (1754), Yves (1792) and Yves (1825). Yves (1825) married Jeanne Auffret. They had four children: Yves (1857, Tregrom), Jean (1862, Botsorhel), Joseph (1865, Plouz6lambre) and Yves-Marie (1878, Plouzélambre).

The younger Yves moved to Jersey between 1873 and 1877. In 1883 he married Augustine L'Hermitte, born in Jersey in 1862, the year after her parents arrived in the island from St Sauveur le Vicomte in Normandy. Augustine was the daughter of Francois L'Hermitte and Augustine La Hougue; Augustine's sisters and brother also lived in Jersey.

Yves is recorded in the 1881 Jersey Census as Yvon, his year of birth was given as 1865, and he was described as a farm servant, with an address of the New Pontac Hotel, St Clement. Yves returned to France once or twice before settling in Jersey. It now seems that on one of these occasions he may have married for a second time. In 2005 some new records published by the Finistere Genealogical Society showed that an Yves Boleat married Marie Le Boulanger in 1885 in Cavan, close to Plouaret. Yves was also present at a christening in 1888 in Tonquedec when he was described as a miller living in Pluzunet.

Yves's younger brother, Joseph, moved to Jersey between 1877 and 1881. The fact that he was recorded in the 1881 Jersey Census means that he arrived in Jersey before the age of 16. He was described as a farm servant at the Marsh Farm Grouville.

As an indication of the difficulty of transcribing census data, the UK Census for 1901 (which includes Jersey) records Yves as Jones and gives his birthplace as Tregiae. He was recorded as being a farmer and having an age of 28 when he was actually 35.

We do not know why Yves and Joseph moved to Jersey. However, they were not alone; many Breton farmworkers came to Jersey at about this time. Most were economic migrants. The permanent French presence in Jersey increased from 2,100 in 1851 to 5,836 in 1901. In 1881 they represented no less than 30% of the total labour force.

The original 1901 Census records for Yves Boleat, his wife, children and mother and father-in-law

Yves and Augustine had five children:

·               Marie, born in 1885 (the first Boleat to be born outside France) who married
George Brown and subsequently died in Jersey. They had four children.

·               Yves, born in 1888. He emigrated to Australia in 1912, married Nellie Collas and died in 1945. They had three children.

·               Charles, born in 1889, who died at the age of 40 in Jersey. He married Lily Evan. They had no children.

·               Emile, born in 1893, who died in Jersey in 1970. Emile married Cecile Samson; they had seven children. One daughter moved to England but the other children remained in Jersey as do most of their children.

·               John, born in 1895, who died in Jersey. He married Lizzie Tolcher (known as Emmie); they had one daughter, Jean.

    ·          Joseph married Augustine Guyamard; they had three children:

·               Josephine, born in 1886 who married Arthur Brown.

·               Louise, born in 1889 who married George Le Cornu.

·               Joseph, born in 1893, who married Augustine Le Mouton. They had three children you stayed in Jersey as have their children.

In 2005 there were about 36 people born as Boleats in the English speaking world, two in England, one in Australia and the rest in Jersey.

The family in France

The family has naturally spread more widely in France. There have been around 200 births since 1900 and there are in France today about 170 Boleats by birth (and a further 60 or so by marriage). About half are in Brittany but there has been a distinct move westwards with the Brest area now being the major centre. Records from INSEE, the French national statistics body, show that from 1966 to 1990 there were 50 recorded births of Boleats in France of which 20 were in Brest. The Paris area is now the second area where there is a major concentration of Boleats. However, the family is widespread with Boleats in Corsica, the Jura and the south.

The USA

The 1900 US Federal census records a Jacob and Charlotte Boleat in Buffalo, New York State. The birthplace of both is given as Germany. Jacob is recorded as being 36, meaning he was born in 1864.

At first sight Jacob has nothing to do with the Boleat family. However, one member of the family recalls being told that one of his uncles had gone to Jersey and another to Canada, never to be heard of again. This might make "Jacob" another son of Yves (1825) although there is no evidence to support this. Not too much should be read into the birthplace being recorded as Germany – people may deliberately fill in a census form incorrectly to conceal their origins if they wish to do so.

This article first appeared in the September 2006 edition of The Bulletin produced by The Jersey Society in London. To subscribe please click on the Join link on the left navigation bar.